TRADE TOPICS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15047, 15 August 1914, Page 16

TRADE TOPICS.

THE POPULAIi BANAJfA

V-f-Oii orr. owj; conr.EsrosDENT.) LONDON, July 10. It - ; i :o ihr, J.ito Mr Joseph Chamv T;a;n that, England owns the preseniluy popularity and cheapness of the ''3!iai:a. To-day the imxit valuable ex-;-i>rt of Jamaica, and a &ourcv nf i;ivcalth to that colony, tht-.so ''tf"!ta flowed from the contract xnado '•- Mr Chamberlain in 1901 with the ilo bir Alfred Jones. In return for .' .-nteidy oi~ £}Q,(XX) a year tor ten ■ o;trs, payable* half, by tlio Imperial 1 srui half by the Jamaica Go-".v-nrrK='.i{, the contractors r/cre pledged ?" purt-havo and carry I*o,ooo buuehes •'* b;ui.tr,.'.£; fortnightly from Jamaica to riio I-nitt-d Kingdom." To-day trio jui-:-<r! tola la hundreds of thousands of '•J:j<:hc-: per .'uinum, and avast demand '■jv the fruit }i:ls ari.seit on the CoJJti;.cnt; two linc-i) of stt-ani.sips now nni iiom Jn;:iaiira u> Rotterdam engaged i ;.H< t-anuiia. trade. THE VALUE OP , AN OWL. Mr J.'iiuos Jiuekland is a supporter ■■; !':f> Plumage Bill -which has jia&sed '*.'i Mv.'onrl reading with :i majority of -»-i2 ;*i)r it. and only 17 against. He siijs li-al mankind's'csistenco on this i* threatened by the extinction •■>;' ••vild l)ir«io, for they destroy the in.ecio that '.vo;ild otherv/iso destroy the '...irld's vegetation. Without forests the tvorld -aoald bo v.-ithout rivers. Tii<» whole of "our cotton trad(( dt'iwiids ••••. birds that destroy the /-otton-wonn. \rn.jr:can statistics show that a mouse ' ur.-My* an annual lo.sh to tho f.irmor if c:;o ih>nny. Ai> an o«-l destroys about KsjiJ mico a year us value to tho farmer is £•! per annum. Ycc its quills .■v.li tbf London feather market at •'■!:'! por bundle of fifty. A f ami no has I'ton caused in Russian Siberia by the • ■Atim-iion of birds, and tho crops in l.'lah nro nnnnal'y saved from destruof:o:s by crickets by tho arrival of flocks .; wihl birdd. HOW TO TREAT MUSHROOMS. '[Ija Board of Agriculture announces that muehroonid can well bo grown on .<ii agricultural scalo, and as they ala verj- fair -urice the marh.v.'i to la> encouragod to receive .. supply instead of relying on •hirico pw-kings from tho -lields. Many v ho are clever at growing the chief of tvliblo fungi ]oso much by nninstruc4;»xl

IMthering —a really important feature. Th<» uvishrnoin must never be cut with a knii'i). out given a sharp twist and jiut'.tvi clean out, the lower portion of tin* eu-in being cut off Liter. Tho beds ,ii W; ; unt bo allowed to become dry, and be-is that have been in bearing •omn time may bo rejuvenated by wa-i-wing with liquid farmyard manure i:ilui«<i with four times its bulk of water. Mushrooms bear transport v-ell, with little packing, and, if proper iirruiigemenU are made for marketing, there is no reason why tho industry should not pay well. AN INTERESTD?G DECISION. Bradford magistrates had -fined a fijii for selling "Wincarnis without a Hconse. Ho appealed, and Bradford sessions have allowed the appeal. Respondents contended that a license was vceeasary,' as Wincarnis was practically port wine, with a small admixture of meat and malt extract, and a gram of i murine* to an ounce of fluid. Appellants contended that Wincarnis was used as a medicine and not as a beyert T,» Evidenco .was called to shcrw that the Exciso Commission did" not consider a license necessary for W-iu-<arnis and the Recorder came to tho conclusion that the article .was not ■«inc. , A SMA3/L HOLDER'S CROP. It has been calculated that there is in England threo times as much land «>n which tobacco can be grown as there is in America, which means that this country has three million acres suitable for this crop, w^ c \ ".^S?* a small holder's crop. At the Shrewsbury Show this week tho exhibit of British-grown tobaocor-there were 27 .•ntries in-four ooctions— was : considered highly r eatisfactory. • Heavy siuppins tolmoco brought an entry of a and for this Sir Nugent T. Eyerrtrd obtained tho silver medal", he also took bronzo medal for his cig&retto tobacco, which-was of particularly attractive aopearance and bright in ■.colour. Lord ftunraveni showed tobacco of. the Turkish type. A critic remarks: It is astounding that even now. wnen it i-; proved that tobacco can be grown profitably in England, the grower ia ilosrzed by revonue officers and hamwtol in "his industry by absurd regulations and restrictions. An instance •if thia is the fict that nKsotme is-not allowed'to be manufactured in England. Yet nicotine only costs 5s per gallon to : mako, and it soils at 16s per gallon. . . These matters should cause tho Government to think. , * "MERCILESS" WAGES. Dr. Thomas, medical officer of health for Finsbury, presents a report which is a poignant narrative of human conditions at their worst.. ;It deals with rtarved and sweated-mothers; and with *tuntod and neglected "children, who liv© in bno of"tneTnoSb'crowdod boroughs of London, and who, incrediblo as- it may scorn,; thrive and resist dist.iVßo amid sordid.; surroundings. Here aro iiorco of tlio wages put down as be-, ing paid to mothers for doing work in their own homes: —Blouse-making, Us j**r dciKcn blouses; tie-making, od and j ikl pea , dozsn ties; mantle-making, 7d o&ch; niakiiig Knickerbockers,lJd each; towing leather ends to braces, 5d for fix dozqn; making 1 pint paper bags, lid per 1000; bbpkfolding, 10d por 1000 sheets; boxmaking for laces, ■Iβ 9d por j;rosa;. boxmaking for toothpicks. Is Gd net , 'gross. Dr. Thomas tells of some "homes whore thero was "no food, ho iobo, coal, or .wood in tho house." OIL FROM PEAT. An important demonstration has juet iiceri made of the distillation of oil from peat oa tha Del -Monto process. Tho roluo of tho process from tho standpoint of the Navy was specially etnphn- j iwwtl.* and it. wits pointed out that it j would bo a simplo matter to establish i large oil resorvos in Ireland and in ! ot-htir parts of tho British Isles -.vhero there wero considerable peat deposits. The total"-cost of'dealing with tho peat its. present in the bogs and taking it through all its stages was stated to bo about 7s per ton, a sum almost ietorered in the valuo of the ammonium salphate. .It was suggested: that by ro<\aiis of this process the L\ million i!cr«s of poat, as present rogaHed as os morb or less waste land, coviu be ionvorted into prosperous oonc/es ct in•histry. The system consists in passvig; the j !'uol used through a series of gmdii.'ited j i«mpora tares, an jirebimetlean convfjer carrying tho fuel from oj:o tn»i ! ii! , * tho= retort to tho ;iir ! lorcod through the retort in the opposite direction drives back any oil. as soon as it is volatilised to a cooler fhamber, with the result that it is at enco rocondeused and the formation of *sr is avoided. Prom n ton of airdried peat about 40 gallons of oil could bo produced, some- 50 pounds oP ammonium sulphate, and about half a ton of post- coke. Tho process is at pro«jnt being operated so as to give the largest procurable yield of fuel oil of fhe typo required by tho Navy. Of the 40 gallons yield come 32 were stated to be ideal for Naval use, as neither tTjlpn'r nor "pKofiphonis was_ present. Theponiainuig 8 gallons consist of pure ;.-x>tor, spirit, and the oils are of the jiaroinn. type. The peat coke is peculiar in Having ' neither enlphur nor phcepnorns; it contains about 9S per <en 6. o fpw-o carbon, and isconsequentW of very considerablo %-alue in steel »"aielting. WANTED—HOME-GROWX TIMBER. * practical attempt to C'/itisa forestry i*'bcins made by Mr

' llobliouso (Postmaster-General). As a result of, tnc teiepnoue uevelopmciit ecnuine hollas had to piaee contracts lor tiio suppiy ot over Auv>,wU ivouuou jjoioe, in adaition to the Ov),uuo denvoruiile uiid&r'tuo annual contracts given out last autumn lor the j.onnal needs of tlio service. It ia a matter lor tlio greatest regret that .British lorostry has iiaU no enaro in contributing to this supply; the yield from British sources Jxarf been a tew hundreu only. Rod fir and Scotch pino arc tho woods best suited to tuo needs and botli are easily grown hero, but failure to meet tho requirement of length and thickness combined have led to tho rejection of much of tho British timber offered by growers, supplies from whom would otherwise have bean gladly bought at fair prices. STATE LABEL FOR MILK. One of tho objects of the pure milk campaign recently organised nas been attained by Mr Herbert Samuel's , agreement to delude a provision in tho Milk and Dairies Bill wnereby Board of Agriculture certificates will be granted to milk-producers whose methods are approved by Government inspectors. The Pure Food Society has drawn up a set of regulations whereby milk which coi>forme,to their conditions of production is as safe as it is humanly possible to render it; to* some, the- measures may appear rather stringent. "PERSIAN" LAMBS RAISED IN CANADA. •

Fox-farming has proved- euch a profitable enterprise- in the maritime provinces of Canada that investments in other lines of fur-bearing animals, are being sought. The raising of "Persian" lamba in New Brunswick is one of tho latest enterprises, and three ranching companies havo; been formed to prosecute this industry. The special lambs aro obtained by crees-breeding tho Karakulis of-Bokhara with-.such longwool typo of sheep ac tlio Lincolns, Cotswolds, and Leicesters. The ewos are selected from the Leicesters. The enterprise is a very valuable, one-, as it demonstrates the possibilities of Is'ow Brunswick, farms along other than tho old lines, and imparts to agriculture an interest which ought to appeal to the younger generation of agriculturists. Possibly on this and on kindred lines solution may be found of the problem as to how to keep young people on the farm.